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| Almond Flounder Meniere |
I am such a French virgin... last week lamb for the first time, tonight browned butter and nut encrusted fish... never cooked any of these things. French virgin... is that an oxymoron? Maybe, maybe not... well Almond Flounder Meuniere was a hit with my family.
This is only the second recipe that I have made of Dorie Greenspan’s and I already see a pattern. She is definitely a poet not a techinian when she writes a recipe. I know she is not a trained chef.. I can tell she prefers winging a dish than percisely following a recipe.
Because her directions are not very clear or organized I find I have to read through her recipes several times. In this recipe I found it strange that she wanted me to put the crust on the skin side of the fish??? That is all wrong for presentation, and I’m glad I resisted following directions.
But her recommendation of using egg white to coat the fish I really liked. The technique allows the coating, in this case the almond/flour mixture, to stick without adding any egg flavor.
Dorie mentioned pouring the butter over the fish while it cooked. I found that the fish cooked up in less than 3 minutes on each side, no time to marinate.
I also found no need for the extra almond slices and parsley Dorie recommend. When I went to put it on it just looked like over kill.
I cook a lot of fish and I’ve usually use very light sauces or seasoning because I never want to overshadow the delicacy of the fish. I was concerned that nuts would be too much with the flounder, but it wasn’t. Probably because the almond flavor was mellowed by mixing it with flour. The browned butter was really a nice touch it deepened... made the butter more earthy in it’s flavor.
I served the flounder with small boiled potatoes dressed with butter and tarragon and broccoli with olive oil and red pepper flakes. My family really liked the potatoes, but I am not a big fan of boiled potatoes... it's the Italian in me... I want pasta or rissotto on the side.
Overall, I think this is genuinely a simple and slightly different meal that can easily be made midweek... very appetizing, light and healthy.
